Share with us your personal story about Ubuntu?

I first began thinking about Ubuntu in 2000. My conversations with poor women during my research trips to South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Indonesia, Nepal, and India had taught me that women living in poverty are able to get out of poverty if they are connected to networks outside their local community and they have the opportunity to learn simple business skills.  The idea behind Ubuntu at Work grew out of this research. I knew what my goal and mission were and my business model was fine-tuned over the course of the next few years.  As with any startup, you develop and fine-tune the model only by doing it.  So I quit my job and launched Ubuntu in 2008.

Describe the work? What lasting impact do you hope Ubuntu will bring to women?

Ubuntu at Work, a social enterprise, collaborates with women micro entrepreneurs living in poverty. We help them develop their existing micro enterprise or establish a new sustainable one. Most of the women micro entrepreneurs we collaborate with have no craft or other marketable skills when they join the Ubuntu at Work community. With the help of field staff and volunteers around the world, we help the women gain new capabilities, collaboratively develop green products they can make at their homes or in a Ubuntu at Work Workspace located near them, and finally, we help them market these products around the world. The focus at Ubuntu at Work has always been reaching out to the remote areas where women are living in entrenched poverty. We have started initiatives that help women living in poverty gain skills, confidence, and escape poverty. And when they do, they transform their families and communities!

What challenges have you faced when you chose to do this?

I think we face many of the challenges that all other nonprofits face.  We have been very lucky to have committed and passionate professionals who volunteer with us.  These volunteers, like Fanni Usadadiya in Uganda, Mirah Zriya in Indonesia, Jane Wolfe in New Orleans, and Marianne Fassler in South Africa, help us supervise our operations across the world.   We are looking for additional funding so we can further expand our operations around the world.  At the same time we are also looking for additional high volume orders for the products our women-members make such as shopping bags, table linen, and uniforms. 

 What about support from home?

My husband Ashutosh and I met while I was a student at Brown University and he came to Brown to give a lecture.  I think the best relationships are those that allow you to be yourself and to grow and evolve in ways you choose.   I’ve lived and worked in four continents and Ashu travels four months a year for his research.  Juggling travel schedules and making time for family and friends is always a challenge.  We try to combine vacations with work/research trips, and have tried to work in the same countries so we spend time together.

Would you like to share some parenting advice? Any tips on life work balance?

In 2000 I was living in South Africa and studying the strategies poor Black women use to escape poverty.  When I used to visit their homes and neighborhoods I used to observe them working, taking care of their kids, managing their families and doing a million other things and I assumed it was possible for women to combine raising kids with working.  But now that I have a child I know better!  My son, Kartik, was born when I was working in England.  Ashu was on paternity leave for the first three months and so the few months were not too bad.  Two days after Ashu left to return to the US, the nanny quit and my life became completely crazy.  Working full time, sleeping for only a few hours, and managing an infant with temp nannies was a nightmare.   It compelled me to rethink my priorities as a mother and a professional.  I soon quit my job and returned to the US.  Some folks have good childcare karma – I had the worst I think! 

Working for Ubuntu has allowed me to balance by work and family life better.  I’ve dragged Kartik (and less frequently Ashu) along with me as I’ve launched our operations in five countries.  I think both Ashu and I have a pretty reasonable work/life balance. It’s not impossible to have, but it does take a lot of creativity and energy. 

It is very hard in our hyper-consumerist culture to teach kids about living a meaningful and sustainable life.  Running Ubuntu has certainly helped me teach Kartik about the value of commitment, the importance of fighting for social justice, and the value of service not just to one’s family, but to the neediest in the world.  Kartik has been a real trooper and I hope he will one day find his unique way of contributing and making our world a better place.

Who are some of the people you admire?

When I was fourteen I sketched a large profile of Gandhi and hung it on my wall.  Unlike me, my classmates had pop stars and cricketers on their walls. I remember my mother teasing me about this!  My heroes have always been Gandhi, Mandela, and Dr. King and feminists like Simone de Beauvoir and Gloria Steinem.  Without their contributions and sacrifices, our lives would have been so different. 

How about books and music?

My favorite author is J.M.Coetzee.  I like his novel ‘Disgrace’ the best.  It’s brutal and gripping, but it leaves me feeling free, energetic, and at peace every time I read it.  In addition to reading (fiction and also books on politics as I’m a political junkie), I’m passionate about visiting art museums, and learning about art.  My tastes in music are rather eclectic.  My favorite musician right now is Vijay Iyer.  I find his pieces just brilliant and thoroughly moving.

Do you have a fitness regime and do you love to cook?

We are the family of salads – which makes dinnertime rather easy on all of us. I love learning to cook new dishes when I travel, but I must admit I don’t spend a lot of time cooking them after I return home!  I have no particular fitness regime.  I try to walk and swim as much as I can and I’m very careful about what I eat.

What are your future plans?

Ubuntu at Work is expanding and launching workspaces in Uganda, Indonesia, and New Orleans in the United States, in addition to our Workspaces in India and South Africa. We now operate workspaces in 30 villages in southern India, South Africa, and in Indonesia, have trained and supported over 7,500 women living in poverty, and have over 37,000 beneficiaries.  Our volunteer in New Orleans is helping us create workspaces for women living in the 7^th and 9^th Wards – the areas that have still not fully recovered from Hurricane Katrina.   We are training our women-members in NOLA in logistics management, order fulfillment, data management, and administrative work.  Soon, they will be helping us manage Ubuntu’s global operations.  They will be helping themselves at the same time as they are helping other women around the world escape poverty and empower themselves.

What is your advice to women taking a path like yours?

Be strong. Be willing to take risks and follow your dream.  Don’t take the easy way out.  It won’t be as fulfilling.  Life is too short to take the safer choice. Take the riskier option and use all your skills and resources to make it safe. Trust that it will work out eventually. Believe in yourself and others will too.